Malcolm Bangor-Jones

Malcolm Bangor-Jones 'Abounding with people of dyvers languages': The Church and Gaelic in the Presbytery of Caithness in the Second Half of the 17th Century In the history of the decline of the Gaelic language within Scotland, the church is seen as a key element in the anglicisation process. But while both state and church in the seventeenth century favoured the suppression of Gaelic in the longer term, there was a recognition by the church that, if the Highlands were to be brought within a unified 'religious jurisdiction', then Gaelic had to be used for religious instruction. Such usage, however, took place within particular ideological and institutional contexts.1 This article examines how the Church of Scotland attempted to accommodate Gaelic speakers .during the second half of the seventeenth century within the presbytery of Caithness, an area which was then on the linguistic frontier between Scots and Gaelic. In the mid-seventeenth century the presbytery of Caithness comprised not only the whole of the shire of Caithness, but also the province of Strathnaver in Sutherland containing the parishes of Dumess, Farr and part of Reay. The presbytery of Sutherland was thus restricted to the south east of the county, equivalent to what is sometimes referred to as the ancient earldom of Sutherland, and the parish of Assynt. The presbyteries of Caithness, Sutherland and Orkney combined to form a 'northern' synod. Most of the ministers in Caithness had been deposed for welcoming or failing to denounce the Marquis of Montrose during his ill-fated expedition of 1650.2 The combination of the Crornwellian conquest, royalist resistance and divisions within the church took a severe toll upon the personnel and 55 NORTHERN STUDIES· 33 administration of the church in Caithness. By 1654 there were only three ministers in the presbytery 'admitted to the exercise of ye holie function to particulare congregations', and one of the three was about to be deposed.3 There were, however, a number of young men acting as preachers in some of the vacant parishes. Ministers and preachers apparently met occasionally, continuing the presbyterial tradition, albeit on an unofficial basis. Eventually, at a meeting held in October, it was resolved that, as there were several 'young men resideing wtin the countrie preaching the gospel!', there should be more frequent meetings of ministers and preachers 'for consulting about the affaires of the gospell wtin the severall congregations', until they were able to meet as a presbytery. At the next meeting in December, the ministers, 'haveing received adwyse from oyr reverand bretheme in the south', resolved to act as a presbytery, and admit such to the ministry as they should find qualified.4 Even so, the task facing the synod when it met in Thurso in August 1656 was enormous. The parishes of Olrig, Wick, Bower, Watten, Reay, Farr and Durness in the presbytery of Caithness were vacant, or as the presbytery optimistically put it, 'waiteth', and Lairg, Creich and Assynt in the presbytery of Sutherland were in a similar state. The position in Orkney was almost certainly worse, although this is not revealed in the synod's minutes as none of the island brethren attended.5 The pattern of language use within Caithness posed a particular problem for the emerging administration. While all parishes in Sutherland had a preponderance of Gaelic speakers who were unable to understand English or Scots, and thus clearly required ministers able to preach in Gaelic, the situation in Caithness was more complex. Broadly speaking, the presbytery was divided into three linguistic zones: parishes w·here most if not all parishioners spoke Scots; parishes where many spoke Scots but where there were also significant numbers of Gaelic speakers; and the parish of Reay and the rest of Strathnaver where Gaelic speakers predominated. This rather crude division ignores the possibility of bilingualism and assumes that Gaelic speakers could not understand Scots - or at least a sermon in Scots. It 56 MALCOLM BANGOR-JONES does, however, broadly coincide with the line identified by place-name studies running through Caithness from the south east' to the north-west which is taken to mark the eastward extent of settlement by Gaelic speakers in Caithness. It appears that the line, which essentially defines highland . from lowland Caithness, was of some permanence.6 Despite efforts to ensure a supply of Gaelic-speaking ministers, there was a serious shortage in the Highlands.7 In Caithness, those parishes which required a Gaelic speaking minister were a severe burden on the presbytery. In 1654 the parish of Reay had been served by a preacher, George Anderson, who was shared with Halkirk. He was admitted minister of Halkirk the following year and may be assumed not to have been a Gaelic speaker. The parishioners of Reay petitioned for the services of Andrew Munro, the minister of Thurso, who could preach in Gaelic. The request was turned down but the presbytery managed to persuade David Munro, whose father, John had been deposed as minister of Reay in 1650, and who had been preaching within the presbyteries of Sutherland and Tain, to return to Caithness. He was admitted to Reay in 1657.8 On the other hand, the parishes of Durness and Farr were to remain vacant for some years to come. In 1657 the presbytery agreed to send a minister to preach in Durness 'in regard to yr desolate condition'. In December that year, in response to a letter from Lord Reay, Andrew Munro was appointed to go to Strathnaver with all countenance. Thereafter ministers from Caithness appear to have visited Strathnaver on a more or less regular basis to preach and also to exercise church discipline. Parishes where the church authorities had to take into account the needs of both Scots and Gaelic speakers were a particular challenge. At its meeting in 1656 the synod considered 'the Numerous congreation of Thurso, many of whom have not the Scotts Language, to whom the present Minister culd not doe duty, in respect of his being altogidder takin upe, with the rest, who are a great deale more numerous'. It was also observed, that 'those having bot the Irish Language culd not have rowm in thair Church to heir, though the Minister were in capacitie to speake to yair 57 NORTHERN STUDIES· 33 vnderstanding'. The synod ordered that a letter should be written to the heritors and parishioners of Thurso, 'that thay goe about ye prowyding ane helper for the vse off such within the Parisch, as doe not vnderstand Scotts.'9 However, at the synod's next meeting in June 1657, it was acknowledged that this attempt to provide for the parish, 'abounding with people of dyvers languages', had been ineffectual and a different solution was tried. The synod ordered that an area on the east bank of the Water of Forss should be disjoined from the parish of Thurso and added to that of Reay. Two other areas, one in the south east corner of the parish and the other comprising the detached lands of Dorrery, were to be disjoined and added to the parish of Halkirk. The location of these three areas makes it clear that this was not merely an attempt to reduce the number of parishioners which the minister of Thurso had to serve, but was an attempt to disjoin those parts of the parish where Gaelic speakers were concentrated and thus reduce the number of 'Gaelic' parishes in the presbytery. It did not augur well for these new arrangements that the ministers of Reay and Halkirk protested their 'inability to vndergoe the same'.10 Indeed, there is no evidence that the transfer of lands ever took place and it may be concluded that this attempt to deal with the Gaelic speakers of Thurso was never instituted. The real priority for the presbytery was to find new ministers to fill the parishes. which were still vacant, including Watten which contained a substantial minority of Gaelic speakers. In December 1656 the presbytery advised the parishioners of Watten to set about obtaining William Campbell to be their minister, 'and remove the Irish families out of yr paroch.'ll Campbell was apparently not available he later became minister of Olrig - and in November 1657 the presbytery asked their colleagues in Forres to send an 'expectant' or trainee minister, Jame.s Dunbar, to Caithness. A similar request was made of the presbytery of Elgin. Dunbar appears to have been employed in the parish of Watten, as the following summer the parishioners made a formal call for him to which the presbytery unanimously gave its consent. By November 1658, however, there had been no further progress 58 MALCOLM BANGOR-JONES and the parish requested that Dunbar's trials be 'hastened'. A hint as to the probable reason for the delay appears in the minutes of the meeting held in January 1659 when the presbytery appointed two of their number 'to goe along wt tuo of ye parochiners of wattin to try what number of Irische inhabitants will be found wtin ye said paroche that it may be seine to before ye minister be admitted'. The two ministers reported to the next meeting of the presbytery on 8 February that 'they had fund the number of nyntie persones yt culd speik no Scotts but Irishe language'. The presbytery decided that Dunbar should be admitted but 'vpon ye heretors ingadgment to remoue thes yt hes ye Irishe tounge allanerlie and plant schooles in ye paroche'. At the same time, however, Dunbar did 'faithfully promisse yt he suld vse all diligence for attaineing the Irishe language' by February 1660. If the presbytery then found that he could not catechise the people in Gaelic, he would be removed from the parish to 'any other congregation whervnto he may be called in case ye parochiners performe not yr engagement foirsaid'.

Load more